Other tags that relate to Dicey Directions
Interactivities. Visualising. Cubes & cuboids. Creating and manipulating expressions and formulae. Working systematically. Selecting and using information. Games. Generalising. Mathematical reasoning & proof. Addition & subtraction.There are 127 results
Broad Topics > Thinking Mathematically > Generalising
Maths Trails
Age 7 to 14
The NRICH team are always looking for new ways to engage teachers and pupils in problem solving. Here we explain the thinking behind maths trails.
Building Gnomons
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Build gnomons that are related to the Fibonacci sequence and try to explain why this is possible.
Winning Lines
Age 7 to 16
An article for teachers and pupils that encourages you to look at the mathematical properties of similar games.
Hidden Rectangles
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Rectangles are considered different if they vary in size or have different locations. How many different rectangles can be drawn on a chessboard?
Have You Got It?
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can you explain the strategy for winning this game with any target?
Pentanim
Age 7 to 16 Challenge Level:
A game for 2 players with similarities to NIM. Place one counter on each spot on the games board. Players take it is turns to remove 1 or 2 adjacent counters. The winner picks up the last counter.
Jam
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
To avoid losing think of another very well known game where the patterns of play are similar.
Nim-7
Age 5 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can you work out how to win this game of Nim? Does it matter if you go first or second?
Number Pyramids
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Try entering different sets of numbers in the number pyramids. How does the total at the top change?
Window Frames
Age 5 to 14 Challenge Level:
This task encourages you to investigate the number of edging pieces and panes in different sized windows.
Cunning Card Trick
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Delight your friends with this cunning trick! Can you explain how it works?
Christmas Chocolates
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
How could Penny, Tom and Matthew work out how many chocolates there are in different sized boxes?
Got it for Two
Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:
Got It game for an adult and child. How can you play so that you know you will always win?
Games Related to Nim
Age 5 to 16
This article for teachers describes several games, found on the site, all of which have a related structure that can be used to develop the skills of strategic planning.
Sliding Puzzle
Age 11 to 16 Challenge Level:
The aim of the game is to slide the green square from the top right hand corner to the bottom left hand corner in the least number of moves.
Nim-7 for Two
Age 5 to 14 Challenge Level:
Nim-7 game for an adult and child. Who will be the one to take the last counter?
Consecutive Negative Numbers
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Do you notice anything about the solutions when you add and/or subtract consecutive negative numbers?
One, Three, Five, Seven
Age 11 to 16 Challenge Level:
A game for 2 players. Set out 16 counters in rows of 1,3,5 and 7. Players take turns to remove any number of counters from a row. The player left with the last counter looses.
Picturing Triangular Numbers
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Triangular numbers can be represented by a triangular array of squares. What do you notice about the sum of identical triangle numbers?
Picturing Square Numbers
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Square numbers can be represented as the sum of consecutive odd numbers. What is the sum of 1 + 3 + ..... + 149 + 151 + 153?
Keep it Simple
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can all unit fractions be written as the sum of two unit fractions?
Cuboid Challenge
Age 11 to 16 Challenge Level:
What's the largest volume of box you can make from a square of paper?
Mystic Rose
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Use the animation to help you work out how many lines are needed to draw mystic roses of different sizes.
Frogs
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
How many moves does it take to swap over some red and blue frogs? Do you have a method?
Hypotenuse Lattice Points
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
The triangle OMN has vertices on the axes with whole number co-ordinates. How many points with whole number coordinates are there on the hypotenuse MN?
Partly Painted Cube
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Jo made a cube from some smaller cubes, painted some of the faces of the large cube, and then took it apart again. 45 small cubes had no paint on them at all. How many small cubes did Jo use?
Painted Cube
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Imagine a large cube made from small red cubes being dropped into a pot of yellow paint. How many of the small cubes will have yellow paint on their faces?
Partitioning Revisited
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
We can show that (x + 1)² = x² + 2x + 1 by considering the area of an (x + 1) by (x + 1) square. Show in a similar way that (x + 2)² = x² + 4x + 4
Tourism
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
If you can copy a network without lifting your pen off the paper and without drawing any line twice, then it is traversable. Decide which of these diagrams are traversable.
Arithmagons
Age 11 to 16 Challenge Level:
Can you find the values at the vertices when you know the values on the edges?
Multiplication Arithmagons
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Can you find the values at the vertices when you know the values on the edges of these multiplication arithmagons?
Cubes Within Cubes Revisited
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Imagine starting with one yellow cube and covering it all over with a single layer of red cubes, and then covering that cube with a layer of blue cubes. How many red and blue cubes would you need?
Squares in Rectangles
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
A 2 by 3 rectangle contains 8 squares and a 3 by 4 rectangle contains 20 squares. What size rectangle(s) contain(s) exactly 100 squares? Can you find them all?
Is There a Theorem?
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Draw a square. A second square of the same size slides around the first always maintaining contact and keeping the same orientation. How far does the dot travel?
Route to Infinity
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Can you describe this route to infinity? Where will the arrows take you next?
A Tilted Square
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
The opposite vertices of a square have coordinates (a,b) and (c,d). What are the coordinates of the other vertices?
Steps to the Podium
Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:
It starts quite simple but great opportunities for number discoveries and patterns!
Egyptian Fractions
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
The Egyptians expressed all fractions as the sum of different unit fractions. Here is a chance to explore how they could have written different fractions.
Nim
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Start with any number of counters in any number of piles. 2 players take it in turns to remove any number of counters from a single pile. The loser is the player who takes the last counter.
One O Five
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
You can work out the number someone else is thinking of as follows. Ask a friend to think of any natural number less than 100. Then ask them to tell you the remainders when this number is divided by. . . .
Got It
Age 7 to 14 Challenge Level:
A game for two people, or play online. Given a target number, say 23, and a range of numbers to choose from, say 1-4, players take it in turns to add to the running total to hit their target.
Konigsberg Plus
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Euler discussed whether or not it was possible to stroll around Koenigsberg crossing each of its seven bridges exactly once. Experiment with different numbers of islands and bridges.
More Magic Potting Sheds
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
The number of plants in Mr McGregor's magic potting shed increases overnight. He'd like to put the same number of plants in each of his gardens, planting one garden each day. How can he do it?
Steel Cables
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Some students have been working out the number of strands needed for different sizes of cable. Can you make sense of their solutions?
Shear Magic
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
What are the areas of these triangles? What do you notice? Can you generalise to other "families" of triangles?
Special Sums and Products
Age 11 to 14 Challenge Level:
Find some examples of pairs of numbers such that their sum is a factor of their product. eg. 4 + 12 = 16 and 4 × 12 = 48 and 16 is a factor of 48.
Multiplication Square
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Pick a square within a multiplication square and add the numbers on each diagonal. What do you notice?
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.